Pumpkin Candies

When life gives you pumpkins, you make pumpkinaide? If you do let me know how it tastes. I used my cups and cups of fresh pumpkin puree to make candy. Pumpkin pie caramels to be exact. I saw the recipe on The Kitchen Prep. Her recipe was for pumpkin "turtles," those caramel, chocolate, and pecan goodies. She "adapted" the caramel recipe from Challenge Dairy. There will be left over caramel. You will want a candy thermometer and maybe lab goggles since caramel is HOT.

I made some caramel pecan chocolate candies and had plenty of leftover caramel for just caramels. I did not change Dianna's recipe at all, so pop over there and check it out. (If you're going to store these for a while or send them, you should temper the chocolate before you use it or use quik melt fake chocolate stuff.) I did learn some things actually making the caramel so I've reproduced my version of that recipe below my prep picture. I don't have any pictures of the finished product--that tells you something. My husband doesn't like caramel but he liked these because the texture was different, softer, than store bought caramels.

Preparation!

Pumpkin Caramel
½ cup (1 stick) Salted Butter (add ¼ teaspoon of salt to a stick of unsalted butter)
1½ cups white sugar (maybe next time I'll try brown sugar or adding a little molasses)
½ teaspoonground cinnamon
½ teaspoonground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
A dash of cloves if you're feeling brave
1 cup light corn syrup*
1⅓ cup (14 oz. can) sweetened condensed milk
½ cup 100% pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice could be substituted for cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground allspice.

Line a 9" square pan with parchment paper and grease it. In a heavy 2 to 3 quart sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the sugar and spices, blend throughly. Add corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk, and pumpkin slowly and mixing well after each addition. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent scorching until the temperature reaches 248°F (firm ball stage). Remove from heat and pour into pan. Cool. Cut candy in to small squares (less than 1") and wrap in wax paper. Store in an airtight container.

WHATEVER YOU DO DO NOT POUR THE CARAMEL ON UNGREASED WAX PAPER THE WAX WILL MELT INTO THE HOT, HOT CARAMEL! IT WILL TASTE WEIRD AND PAPERY!

*One thing I vividly remember about growing up in Illinois is a man from Big Corn came to talk to our elementary school class about corn and he brought in corn syrup and told us to put it on our pancakes.

Enjoy,

EAH

Pumpkin Pancakes

Fall has turned into being all about that squash, that squash being pumpkin. But I still think of fall as apple season. Late in September my maternal family would head up to Edward's Orchard to go apple picking, buy apple cider, and eat the absolute best apple cider doughnuts. To me fall is all about harvesting apples. But sometimes you buy a pie pumpkin (for the seeds of course) at the store and end up with quarts of fresh roasted pumpkin puree. So, here's a recipe for pumpkin pancakes!

Various Winter Squashes in Various Forms

Pumpkin Pancakes
Makes about fifteen two tablespoon of batter pancakes

3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 cup whole wheat flout
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch to 1/8 teaspoon cloves (optional)

Grease and heat the pan on medium. Mix liquid ingredients and sugar. Mix the dry ingredients. Gently mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Add the batter to the pan. Flip when bubbles form in the batter and the bottom of the pancake is brownish.

Inspired by Mark Bittman's Everyday Pancakes (his pancake making instructions are the best if you need more detail than I've provided) and Eagle Brand's Pumpkin Pie.

I hope you enjoy,
EAH


PS I'm sorry about my spotty posting. I try to post Tuesdays and Thursday and I was able to do that before our kiddos joined us. I will definitely be posting every Thursday (because when I realize that I've forgotten on Tuesday, I'm extra motivated to get a post scheduled for Thursday).

Refrigerator Pickles

I love pickled beets. (Also other types of pickles.) Canned pickled beets (Aunt Nellie's) cost twice as much just plain canned beets so I thought I'd try my hand at making them on my own. I found this recipe and then modified it to my tastes; though I love garlic, I do not love garlic and beets. At the same time I prepared the beets, I made Budget Bytes's Spicy Pickled Carrots, I substituted a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes for the jalapeño.


Refrigerator Pickled Beets

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 15-oz can beets, drained
1 teaspoon black pepper or pickling spice
1 pint sized canning jar or similar heat proof container with lid

Boil the cider vinegar, water, and sugar for 5 minutes. Let cool. Add beets and spices to jar, pour vinegar mixture over the top and put a tight lid on the jar. Put in fridge and let stew for a week, shaking occasionally for fun.

Step By Step Photos

Prepping

Making the Pickling Vinegar

Filling up the Canning Jar

Adding the Pepper

Adding the Pickling Spice

Topping it off with the Vinegar Mixture

Ready to Chill in the Fridge

Update: I find the black pepper pickled beets to taste better with equal amounts of vinegar, water, and sugar.


PS I apologize for missing my regularly scheduled Thursday post last week; I was sick AND I had a trial to prep for and I completely forgot what day I was in.

Sesame Chicken with Broccoli

4 cups (or more) frozen broccoli florets

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 

1 red pepper cut into thin 1ish inch stripes or diced

1 onion diced

1 clove garlic or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2-3 tablespoons honey

Cook/defrost broccoli. Cook chicken in oil for about 5 minutes flipping halfway through. Add sesame oil, peppers and onions, cook a few minutes, add broccoli and remaining ingredients. Cook until the sauce thickens. Serve over rice.

This was so good that we've had it several times in the month since we discovered the recipe. I modified it a bit to make it easier and so I wouldn't have to buy things at the grocery store that I didn't think I'd be able to use in other recipes.

I found this recipe via the Advocare tumblr. I wanted to give the 24 Day Challenge a try so I wanted to try so more gluten free, sugar free (I guess honey doesn't count?), diary free recipes. I tried being gluten free for a month in law school to see if it would help my allergies and eczema, if I had a gluten allergy then that would make my other allergies and skin worse, the only think that happened was I lost weight because I couldn't way the free pizza at the law school or other stuff so now when I want to lose weight I go "gluten free" so I have a reason not to eat pizza or cookies. I don't mean to trivialize the concerns of people who have gluten allergies or have celiac disease and cannot eat gluten.

Quick Tortellini Pasta Salad

Ingredients for 9 oz of pasta
Salad Dressing
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

Salad
1 9-oz refregerated cheese-filled tortellini
1 cup sliced carrots
1 1/2 cup frozen cut green beans
2 tablespoons diced onions

1. In a jar with a tight fitting lid, combine all dressing ingredients; shake well. Set aside.
2. Cook tortellini, carrots, and green beans as directed on tortellini package until tortellini is tender and vegetables are tender-crisp. I put the frozen beans in pot as the water heats up because I like most of my vegetables well cooked.
3. Drain; return to sauce pan. Cover with cold water and let stand 5 minutes or rinse with cold water until cool. Drain well.
4. Place tortellini, carrots, and green beans in medium bowl; add onions. Pour dressing over salad; toss gently to coat.

Since I can only find 12 oz containers of tortellini here are the measurements scaled for use with 12 oz of pasta . . .

Dressing
7 tablespoon + 1/3 teaspoon or 3.6 oz Olive Oil (about half a cup)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 1/3 t lemon juice
2/3 t sugar
2/3 t salt
1/3 t garlic powder
1/3 t oregano

Salad
12-oz refregerated cheese-filled tortellini
1 1/3 cups sliced carrots
2 c. frozen green beans
2 T 2 t diced onions

Note:
1/8 t + 1/4 T = .375 and 1/3 ≈ .333
1/8 t + 1/2 t = .625, 3/4 t = .750, and 2/3 ≈ .667
Or you can buy odd size measuring spoons on amazon. I added some to my Christmas/Birthday wish list.

Blueberry Pecan Oatmeal Muffins

Muffins taste better when shaped like doughnuts.
I swear it tastes and smelled so much better than it looked.

Ingredients
4 eggs
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup skim milk
1 1/3 cup frozen blueberries
1 1/2 cups oatmeal

2/3 cup pecan pieces
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
Warm milk and apple sauce in microwave oven. Mix first group of ingredients. Let sit for 10 minutes so the oats will soften. Then gently mix in the remaining ingredients. Bake at 375º for 22 minutes. Makes approximately 30 muffins.

I used Multigrain Hot Cereal because Hubs bought some and then didn't like it and I didn't like it much either so I used it up in this mash up of my plane old boring oatmeal muffin recipe. I also mashed the blueberries because I don't like chunks of fruit. I mixed the frozen blueberries in with the warm milk and applesauce so they would defrost and I wouldn't have to adjust the cooking time.

3.1g added sugar

Memorial Day Weekend Recipies

We went over to my in-laws for grilled hamburgers for Memorial Day last week so I made salads to help out my MIL.

Pea Salad
via southernbellejm

2 pounds frozen peas
7 strips of bacon
1/4 cup purple onion, diced
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup mayo
salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar

Bake bacon at 400º for 10 to 15 minutes until crispy. Let the bacon cool and then chop it. Cook peas according to directions and rinse to cool. Combine all ingredients.

The original recipe calls for dubbed cheese but I am always have frozen shredded cheese on hand since we buy it in bulk so that is what I used.

Orzo Pasta Salad
inspired by Jen Smith and Carly/College Prep's Prep Talk

Salad
1/2 lb orzo cooked in chicken or vegetable broth (not necessary)
2 c. cut tomatoes
1 package (about 6 oz) feta cheese cubed or crumbled
1/2 c. toasted pine nuts*
1 c. chopped fresh basil (or up to 1T dry added in with the dressing)
1 c. chopped red onion
1 can sliced olives (greek or black or whatever)*
1 can rinsed and drained chickpeas (1/2 cup dried equals the amount in a can once cooked)*
1 can artichoke hearts chopped*

Dressing
1 T oregano
salt and pepper to taste
4 cloves of garlic or 1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
2 T lemon juice
2 t honey or sugar
1/2 c. olive oil

Mix up dressing in a container that seals well and shake. Cook pasta according to directions then cool. Combine salad ingredients, add dressing, and chill.

The ingredients with asterisks are ones that I only include some times. I think I've also tried putting in bits of cucumber. When I make this recipe ahead of time I usually wait to add the tomatoes until right before it is served because the tomatoes will get mushy in the dressing but this doesn't seem to happen if you you use grape tomatoes but where we are grape tomatoes are way more expensive than regular ones. As you can see in the picture I didn't have enough orzo so I mixed macaroni and orzo.


Cheese Straws
via Carolina Brunette and Charleston Receipts

1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, softened

1 pound (about 4 c. grated) cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1-1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup milk if needed

Cream the butter. Mix in the grated cheese. Mix in the other ingredients. Roll the batter into straws and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes.

These ended up tasting great (the went fast so I didn't get a picture). But I wasn't impressed with my results since the wikipedia article on cheese straws specifically says they're made with "butter, flour, salt, cheddar cheese and cayenne pepper." The batter I made seemed to dry to come together so I didn't add as much flour as in the original recipe and I added milk. Next time I will grate the cheese myself and I will try some of the other suggestions and maybe one of the other suggested recipes from Southern Living Magazine.

Better Butter

I'm all about saving money and eating "healthy." By that I mean we don't eat margarine or keep pop on hand other than ginger ale for upset stomach. But I eat choclate chips out if the bag.

The butter in action. The step by step photos I took
didn't turn out very well so I didn't end up using them.

I had been buying Land o Lakes spreadable butter with canola oil since it's spreadable and it should be lower in chloresterol since it's not all butter. (I have high bad  chloresterol so I try to exercise more and limit it in my diet.)

But I stumbled upon a make your own recipe!  And it was great.

Let two sticks of butter soften, whip with a hand mixer and add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, if using unsalted butter, and 1/2 cup of canola oil. Wash out a 15 oz container of the store bought stuff and you'll be able to fill it up with homemade.

This was a game changer! We save almost $2 since it costs a little more than half as much to make as it does to buy it. It's not quite as smooth as the store bought stuff but it still spreads much more nicely on toast than real butter does and tastes great.

I can't wait to experiment and see if I can make lower fat spreadable butter by mixing milk back into the butter. I'll have an update once I give it a try.

Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits

So I've been afraid of making biscuits because I don't have quite enough counter space in my tiny kitchen to roll out biscuits. But one day I made a split pea soup but we were out of bread so I looked in my How to Cook Everything cookbook for a quick bread recipe, I saw the drop biscuits, decided I'd try to replicate Ruby Tuesday's Garlic Cheese Biscuits. I think these are a close success! I believe the Ruby Tuesday's ones are a bit saltier but Hubs was incredibly happy with these. And, despite Bittman's warnings that they're best eaten right out of the oven, I thought they tasted great for breakfast reheated in the toaster oven the next morning.

Garlic Cheese Drop Biscuits

1 cup all-pupose flour
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoon canola oil (or butter)
1/2 cup milk (I use skim)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder (8 cloves fresh garlic minced/chopped)

Heat oven to 450º. Mix the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter or mix in the oil. Mix in the milk and cheese. Drop tablespoons of dough onto a greased baking sheet. Bake for 9 minutes.

Maple Syrup Bread

This is an expensive recipe since Maple Syrup is the most expensive thing I ever buy. I modified Mark Bitmman's "Quick Whole Wheat and Mollasaes Bread" to get this recipe because I really, really can't stand molasses and it turned out great!

I'll pretend I made it in honor of Maple Sunday here in Maine (a couple of weeks ago now). This year's been a bad year for the maple syrup makers. The farmers tap the tress but they need cold nights and warm days in order for the sap to flow in the trees. It's been so cold during the day that the sap isn't flowing so there was hardly any maple syrup from this year for Maple Sunday.

Ingredients
1 1/2 c. milk warmed (microwaved for a minute) (or if you have it, butter milk)
2 T vinegar, white (apple cider vinegar or lemon juice would likely work as well)
1/2 c. maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
1 t salt
1 t baking soda (box)

Instructions: Make "buttermilk" by mixing 1 1/2 c. warm milk with 2 T white vinegar. Let the "buttermilk" rest, it will curdle a bit and that is okay. Combine the dry ingredients. Add 1/2 c. maple syrup and the butter milk. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 325º for one hour. (I always turn my baked goods around in the oven when they're halfway done.)

Hubs loved this. It was a very hearty bread and it was more like regular bread with yeast than like other quick breads. FYI Hubs thinks its snobby to say and prefer maple syrup over pancake syrup. But I think that's just being accurate since Maple syrup is made from tree sap and pancake syrup is maple flavored corn syrup. I can notice a real difference between the texture of two and I assume maple syrup is better for me because its less processed than pancake syrup.

I've been getting nutrition facts for my recipes from Calorie Counts' Recipe Analyzer. You copy and past a recipe in to the text field and it generates nutrition facts like the above for you! I also use MyFitnessPal to count calories and they have changed their Recipes section to make it easier to use! If you found a recipe on a website, it lets you import it by just copying and paying the URL. With both you'll likely have to clean up the recipe before it's finalized but both of these make it so much easier to keep track of calories and other nutrients when you cook from scratch.

Enjoy!

I Made Grandma's Cookies "Healthy"

I've been trying to make a breakfast cookie so that I have something low fat and low sugar to snack on when I get a craving for something sweet so I fiddled with my Grandma's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe to make something I could eat everyday that wouldn't raise my HDL and blood glucose levels to dangerously high amounts. 

Ingredients

Heaping 1/2 c applesauce, unsweetened

1 1/4 c oatmeal (I use quick cook)

1 egg

1/2 t vanilla

1/4 to 1/2 c light brown sugar (I think 1/3 c is best for my taste buds' preferences)

3/4 c whole wheat flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking soda (in a box)

Scant 1/2 c (3 oz) Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Warm the apple sauce and mix with the oatmeal. Let sit for up to 10 min. to soften. Mix in sugar and liquid ingredients. Mix in flour, chocolate, and baking soda. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes 1 1/2 dozen cookies. 

Instead of chips you can use nuts (pecans are my favorite). Use up to 1 c. nuts alone or 1/2 c chocolate chips and 1/2 c nuts. Feel free to try doubling the recipie, I halved it from my grandma's recipie while experimenting.

Hubs really loves these. I love them too. I'm so glad I gave this a try.

Black Bean Tacos

Mr. H LOVED this accidental creation.
We had an extra jalapeño and leftover chicken broth and
I decided to make tacos with black beans for the filling.

Ingredients
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup dried black beans, soaked (about 2 cans cooked black beans drained)
1 jalapeño pepper diced
1 to 2 onions diced (I used 1½ small onions because I also made blender salsa)
1 Tbsp chili powder
½ Tbsp paprika
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp cumin
⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
⅛ tsp red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon oregano
½ tsp seasoning salt
½ Tbsp corn starch
1 1/2 c. broth (chicken, beef, or vegetable your choice)

Directions
Saute onions and jalapeño in 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil until soft. Add soaked beans, broth, and spices. Bring to boil then simmer covered for an hour or until the beans are cooked through. (If you use canned beans you do not need to cook the beans as long.) If there is too much liquid with the beans after simmering for an hour take off the lid the pot and turn the heat up to medium to cook off the extra liquid.

Serve the beans on tortillas with your favorite condiments (pinterest blender salsa and sour cream) and veggies (olives, tomato, and iceberg lettuce). Or try serving it over delicious cheesy Mexican rice.

I just tried recreating it to test the recipe I wrote down after I the first time I made this and it is pretty spicy! I was at my limit. If you need to keep things mild omit the cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, and reduce the amounts of chili powder and paprika. If you don't want to mix up the spices yourself or buy them all you can use a packet of taco seasoning instead of the spices in the recipe.

I had originally thought to make black bean tacos  because ground beef is really expensive but I love tacos. I've been subbing black beans into other "Mexican" recipes where there's ground meat like Skinny Taste's Taco Stuffed Succhini Boats and Budget Bytes' Beef Taco Pasta (like Mexican Hamburger Helper) and so I gave it a go with tacos. I usually use the equivalent of a can of beans per pound of meat when substituting because most cans of beans weigh just short of a pound. Generally, half a cup of dried beans yields the same amount as a can of beans.

Step by Step Photos

Cooking the veggies

Adding the spices

Starting to Simmer

Done

Apple Crisp in a Pie

We buy apples when they're on sale. Sometime we get more than we can eat before they get yucky. When they get yucky I chop them up, add sugar, and cook them! Also, we had whipped cream that we needed to use up.

This recipe is a mix of my grandma's apple crisp recipe, my mother-in-law's apple crisp recipe, and Muffy at the Daily Prep's apple pie recipe (I really like this crust recipe because it does not have butter).

Ingredients

Crust

1/2 cup white flour
3/8 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (don't leave out)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/8 cup milk

Filling

6 or so apples peeled and diced

1/2 cup sugar 

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oats (I used quick oats)

1/2 cup brown sugar

6 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

Grease pie plate. Mix ingredients for pie crust and roll out between waxed or parchment paper. Put crust in pie plate, it will be crumbly. Peel and chop apples. (I prefer my apple pieces very tiny.) Mix apple pieces with sugar and cinnamon.  Mix dry ingredients for the topping. Cut cold butter into 6 or more pieces and cut into topping. Add apples to the pie crust and cover with topping. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until apples are soft.

Update: This pie is just as good with half the sugar.

Step by Step Photos

My apple peeler in action.

The apples in the crust.

Making the topping.

The Finished Topping

Ready to Go into the Oven!

White Bean and Vegetable Cream Soup

I put "white bean soup" on our meal plan one week. (I put a lot of soup on our meal plan that week since I was in the clutches of the so called Polar Vortex when I drew it up. But it ended up being abnormally warm the rest of the week.) When I went to make dinner I didn't have a corresponding recipe so this kind of happened. I was  inspired by a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian White Beans, Tuscan Style in which the beans are seasoned simply with garlic, sage, and black pepper. Mr. H liked it so I thought I'd share the recipe--it's like the ham and potato soup from September except without the ham and potatoes.

I wasn't planning to blog this so my photo is the
left over bit of soup that I ended up having for lunch.
So good, even left over.

White Bean and Vegetable Cream Soup

1 qt. vegetable broth (1qt water + vegetable better than bullion)
1 chopped onion
4 diced carrots
1 c. diced celery (one or two stalks)
1 c. frozen green peas
1 c. dried great northern beans, soaked and drained (or two cans drained beans)
1 t pepper
1 t sage

5 T butter or vegetable oil
5 T all purpose flour
2 c. milk

Combine the first group of ingredients in a stockpot. Bring to a boil. Then simmer for an hour or until beans are tender.

Melt butter or heat oil in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook stirring constantly for two minutes. Slowly whisk in milk and cook for 5 minutes until thick. Stir the milk mixture into the the soup and mix thoroughly.

Note: In soups I like my veggies to be really mushy if you don't like that cook the beans by themselves first for 40 minutes and add the veggies for the remaining 20 minutes. Or use canned beans and just cook everything for 20 minutes. You can use any combination of vegetables you'd like I'd try to keep it to about 5 cups of diced vegetables. I'll likely try using olive oil (I used butter this time) and adding in some garlic next time. Also, I think spinach would be really good in this.

The White Beans, Tuscan Style from Bitmann's
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
with fresh bread and diced sweet tomatoes

Tomato Caper Pasta Sauce

Serves 3 to 4 1 14 oz can petite diced tomatoes (3 to 4 tomatoes diced) 2 T tomato paste* 2 T capers 1/2 onion diced 1 to 2 T olive oil 3 or more cloves of garlic minced or pressed (3/4 t. garlic powder) 20 cranks of the pepper mill 1 1/2 t (1/2 T) basil 1/4 t oregaono 3/4 t sugar salt to taste (3/4 t)

Serves 6 to 8 2 cans petite diced tomatoes† (6 to 8 tomatoes diced) 1/4 c. (4 T) tomato paste 1/4 c. capers 1 onion diced 2 T to 1/4 c. olivie oil 6 cloves of garlic minced or pressed (1 1/2 t. garlic powder) 40 cranks of the pepper mill 1 T basil 1/2 t oregaono 1 1/2 t. (1/2 T) sugar salt to taste 1 1/2 t. (1/2 T)

1. Rinse the capers. 2. Sauté onions in oil. 3. Add the garlic, tomato paste, capers, and diced tomatoes after the onions become soft and translucent. 4. Add spices. 5. Cook until smooth. 7. Heat on medium low for at least ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

*We buy a can of tomato paste when we need it. Then we freeze tomato paste in tablespoon sized lumps on a plate. After they're frozen we put them in a plastic bag and keep them in the freezer until we need more.

†After drafting this post I discovered 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, you can use one of those in stead of two of the little cans.

The Ingredients, not including the Tomato Paste
The Capers are Soaking

The Tomato Paste
When we buy a can of tomato paste we generally only need to use one
tablespoon. There is more than one tablespoon of tomato paste in each can.
So we freeze table spoon sized lumps of tomato paste on a greased
plate then put them in a plastic bag once they're frozen. 

Step 2. Onions Sautéing

Step 3. Adding Garlic

Step 3. I added the tomato paste first to try to get it
to melt a bit before adding the other ingredients.

Step 3. The Capers Join the Pan

Step 4, 5 and 6!

I am so proud of myself because I made this recipe up. I bought a jar of capers on a whim and we had some tomatoes that needed to be used up. So I diced the tomatoes and added some onion and the capers and we had this wonderful pasta sauce. I really like the caper flavor it is unique and memorable. If I had a motor and pestle (or some other grinding or pounding tool) I would try mashing the capers before adding them in to the sauce.

Have you ever made a meal without a recipe before? How do you like the step by step photos?

Sweet Potato Muffins

I borrowed this recipe from the Southern Fried Bride and it's too delicious not to share. I changed the recipe up a bit  because I don't like marshmallows and because Mr. Handsome doesn't like pecans in his food (he's nuts). I also made muffins instead of a loaf because they're easier to grab and eat.

Breakfast is Served

Sweet Potato Muffins

(Makes 12 to 16 muffins)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ^*
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup skim milk
1 cup sweet potato (about 1/2 of an average sized sweet potato), mashed ^†

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pan. Combine dry ingredients, the first group of ingredients, and mix. Add wet ingredients, the second group, and mix.^** Spoon into muffin pans. Bake for 25 minutes.

Options:
Top with the Southern Fried Bride's Marshmallow Glaze
Add up to 3/4 cup Pecan Pieces

^* The original recipe calls for a mix of whole wheat and all purpose flour. I used all whole wheat flour and increased the amount of baking soda used.

^† I cooked a sweet potato in the microwave, let it cool, and then mashed it with a fork in a bowl. I used about half of the mashed sweet potato this time. I put the rest in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for next time.

^** Ideally you would mix the dry and wet ingredients separately in two bowls and then combine the two mixtures. I do not like to do dishes so I try to do everything in one bowl. It works out okay.

Lowering Calories in Baked Goods with Applesauce

This recipe uses unsweetened applesauce in place of oil. (So if you don't have any unsweetened applesauce, you can use melted butter or vegetable oil instead in this recipe.) You can make this substitution in most recipes that call for a liquid fat like vegetable oil or melted butter.

Supposedly, the reason using applesauce instead of fat works is because the pectin in the applesauce works like fat in that it helps to prevent the formation of gluten in quick breads and cakes. While you want gluten in regular bread you don't want it to form in quick breads because that makes the quick bread or cake too chewy.

If you're experimenting on your own you'll want to take it slow and not necessarily replace all the fat in the recipe with applesauce. For example, this recipe still has fat in it from the egg yolk. You'll also want to be careful not to over cook your delicious baked good! Start checking for doneness with a toothpick or knife five to ten minutes earlier than suggested in the original recipe.

This guide from Musselman's Apple Sauce looks like it would be useful if you want to substitute applesauce for fat in boxed mixes.

P.S. Would you like to see more step by step photos? I don't particularly care for them when other bloggers post step by step photos for all the steps in a recipe. But I can see how it would be useful to demonstrate a complicated technique.

Apple Cider Bread

I found a recipe for apple cider bread and muffins on Yankee Magazine's website. As usual, I modified the recipe. The original can be found here: Yankee Magazine Apple Cider Bread or Muffins. For some reason, I think of molasses as being a traditional New England type of thing so I substituted brown sugar (sugar with a bit of molasses added in) for white sugar in things. I also wanted it to have more of a fall spice flavor to it (like the pumpkin spice) so I changed the amount and type of spices the recipe called for.

The very large loaf of apple cider bread.

Apple Cider Bread or Muffins

Yields: 12 mini muffins, 2 dozen muffins, 1 large loaf of bread

Ingredients

• 1 c. butter (2 sticks)^*
• 3/4 c. dark brown sugar^†
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 3 eggs 

• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt 
• 1 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. ginger
• 1/4 t. nutmeg
• 1/4 t. cloves
• 2 T baking powder

• 2 cups apple cider (generously measured)
• 2 cups apples (about 4 apples), peeled, cored, and chopped (it is all right if there is extra apple) I used mackintosh apples because I like the way they get mushy when cooked.

(1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. (2) Grease pans. (3) Cream butter^* and the sugar in a large bowl. (4) Add the eggs and cream thoroughly. (5) Add 1/2 c. flour and seasoning and add a bit of cider then mix. Continue adding flour and a bit of cider a little at a time until these ingredients are used up. Add the baking powder last. (6) Stir in chopped apples. (7) Add the batter to the greased pans. (8) Bake mini muffins for about 15 minutes, muffins for about 25 minutes, and the loaf for about 50 minutes.

I do not like chunks of fruit in my food
so I put the apple chunks in my chopper
to make them extra tiny.

The end result, after I took a sample.

^*When you cream butter and sugar something magical happens, the sugar cuts up the fat in the butter and helps it hold air bubbles. If you replace the butter with vegetable oil, there's no magic and the quick bread ends up flat, life less, and dry. It's still edible but not pleasurable to eat. For me this is a special treat for when I con't care about my LDL or a good treat for my husband and in-laws when apples are on sale.

^†I haven't tried reducing the amount of sugar yet (since the replacing the butter with vegetable oil turned out badly) so I can't say how it would work out but I would try reducing the sugar down to 1 cup.